Ex-National Security Advisor John Bolton has recently alleged that former President Donald Trump exhibited an 'unsettling fixation' on amassing classified materials during his single-term presidency, as per information received by RadarOnline.com.
This troubling revelation comes in the wake of Trump's arrest in Miami, following his arraignment on 37 counts tied to his unlawful retention of classified documents post his January 2021 exit from office. Bolton purports to have witnessed this alleged fixation on classified data first-hand during his stint in the White House.
Bolton, who held the role of Trump's National Security Advisor from 2018 through 2019, aired these allegations during a Sunday interview with MSNBC host Jen Psaki.
Trump's alleged preoccupation with classified data during his tenure was "very disturbing," according to Bolton. He shared, "Trump seemed to amass items of interest to him, be it news clippings, keepsakes, or classified documents. This behaviour was very disturbing."
He further explained, "In intelligence briefings, decision-making meetings, he often had a penchant for retaining certain documents. We tried as best as we could to retrieve these documents."
He ruefully added, "We evidently fell short in several instances. But it was a pattern that was discernible from early on."
Bolton brought up a notorious incident from August 2019, when Trump posted a series of classified documents pertaining to a botched Iranian missile launch on Twitter.
On August 30, 2019, Trump tweeted a classified U.S. reconnaissance satellite image, alongside the words, "The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One."
Bolton called the incident particularly "disturbing", arguing there was "no conceivable reason" for a sitting U.S. President to publicly disclose classified intel provided by intelligence agencies.
Bolton told Psaki, "There's absolutely no rationale for such an act, other than it giving him a sense of satisfaction. This is just one instance, but it's representative of the mindset, in my opinion."